Superelastic and micaceous deformation in the intermetallic compound CaFe2As2

Single-crystalline intermetallic compound CaFe2As2 are known to exhibit both superelasticity and micaceous plasticity, but these phenomena have not been studied in detail. Here we report a study of the elastic and plastic deformation behaviors for CaFe2As2 single crystals grown in Sn-flux solution. The anisotropic mechanical response has been studied using micropillar compression tests performed in-situ within a scanning electron microscope. These data are compared with density functional, theory calculations to develop an understanding of micaceous plasticity in terms of strongly anisotropic generalized stacking fault energies. The results of this work will offer design guidelines to produce mechanically robust superelaStic structures. (C) 2017 Acta Materialia Inc, Published by Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.